In late March, 1924, 30-year-old Etta Marcus died at Chicago's Francis Willard Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. The coroner concluded that Dr. William J. Wick had performed the fatal abortion at his office. However Wick was acquitted.

Wick was born about 1871 in Wisconsin, son of German immigrants. He married Hilda Johnson, daughter of Ola and Matilda Johnson, and they had a son, William H. Wick.